Old Friends

It’s been a crazy couple of days. Jane & Ian have been here for 1 full day and 2 nights and I’ve suffered with 2 hangovers. In fact I’m hung-over as I type and so is Phil. As I blog Phil is in the kitchen making bacon sandwiches for everyone. Together with a huge mug of tea and a couple of Aspirin, this is a perfect remedy for the morning after the night before.

We were nervous about driving to the airport on Thursday evening to pick up Jane & Ian right in the smack bang of rush hour traffic but the sat navigation did work and we left ourselves plenty of time. Unfortunately half way into the journey the heavens opened and it chucked it down with rain. Never mind we found our way to Terminal 3 in domestic arrivals without too much argument. Ian & Jane were only 5 minutes delayed and it was pretty weird greeting them from Sydney, by the luggage Belt half way across the world. As we made our way back to Berwick in the car, the rain really came down fast and it wasn’t easy to drive. Phil took a wrong turn and we were headed right into the centre of the city in really heavy traffic. Ian said he thought the traffic in Melbourne was far worse than Sydney. As we navigated out of the city and back on the MI freeway, Ian & Jane were able to see a little of the Melbourne but with all the steam and the mist and the rain it wasn’t a great introduction.

It was 7 o’clock by the time we reached home and luckily Phil had already prepared a big pot of chilli with rice. We soon opened the beer and the wine and it was not to long before we got stuck into the prawn and avocado salad. All of us were famished. Phil had overdone it with the chilli’s (as he always does) which was a shame because otherwise it would have been a nice meal. I told Jeremy to help himself to the leftovers but even he said the chilli was too hot for him to eat. I can cope with the spice because I’m used to it but just a shame for the others.

Yesterday we went to Philip Island. The sky was grey in the morning but cleared up as we made our way to the bridge. The first stop was the F1 motorcycle track where Ian and Phil booked up the go-karts. It was a bit of a fuss filling out the forms and getting in line for their turn but eventually they were given their helmets. Jane and I sat on the top with the cameras waiting for our men to come out so we could take a shot. Phil was the last one out on the track and seemed to be going painfully slow. Jane said she thought he was being safety conscious but I knew he had a problem. After their time slot ended, they came back in and collected their track times. Ian came 5th out of 18 riders and Phil came 18th!! He reckoned his kart was no good (he had kart number 13). He also said that his helmet was way too small and he’d struggled to get it on even though they had given him the largest helmet they had! Never mind, Ian said it was great and Phil said that it was the worst experience for him.

We got in the car and drove further round the island stopping off at Smiths beach to look at the surfers. The sun was out by this time and Ian and Phil actually went in the sea for a paddle. How very English is that!!! There were a few surfers in the ea and a couple of backpackers lying on the beach. I did take my jacket off but the breeze was chilly and there was no way I was going to get my kit off and sunbathe. Phil drove further round the island going past the penguin parade and stopping at The Nobbies so that he could take Ian & Jane down to the Blow Hole to see if they could spot any seals. I stayed up top, there were too many nesting white nasty birds for me. When they got back up Jane said the view was amazing and then I wished I’d of gone down with them. Unfortunately the only seal they saw was a young baby dead one washing up on the rocks. We were tempted to have fish and chips at the restaurant in the visitor centre but we decided to hang on and drove to Cowes.

Cowes was fairly quiet so we parked up by the ferry and sat down for a light lunch right by the ferry booking office giving us fabulous views of the ocean and French island. Although the café was small, the food was tasty and the beer was cold. A very pleasant way to wile away an hour or so in the sun. It didn’t feel too hot but when we finally got back home last night I could see that Ian, Jane and Phil had all caught the sun. The plan was to get changed and head into Berwick for a meal but then it all went wrong. Phil had switched on the laptop and Harriet phoned to show me photographs of the snow. She was hyper and very excited. Jane made phone calls to home because nanny who was looking after the dogs doesn’t like the snow and she needed to make arrangements. Jane had to make a few calls to sort various problems and then it was nearly 9pm. We decided to abandon dinner and Jeremy kindly volunteered to go get us a Thai takeaway. A few beers, a couple of gin and tonics and more wine and our Friday evening went very quickly.

It seems the snow is very bad in England, and as always happens, when we get some of the white stuff, the whole country grounds to a halt. Harriet sent me a picture of Coke the dog in the snow and Emma sent me a picture of Kai in the back garden in the cul-de-sac. I spend my days longing for the sun to come out but arrghhhhhhhh seeing the snow and I feel nostalgic for home. What is this homesickness? I never ever feel like this when I’m away. Today we are heading for The Dandenongs, the skies are grey and there is rain in the air but hey ho, I’m sure a good time will be had by all.